Another White House Staff Memeber packing her desk

Sara Taylor, who has been with the Bush WH since the beginning, is leaving for the private sector. Here's the Washington Post article about her, then I'll follow up with more from Think Progress.

Another Top Bush Aide Makes an Exit

By Michael A. Fletcher
Monday, May 28, 2007; Page A15

As the Bush administration inches closer to its concluding months, more top aides are headed out to the private sector. Sara M. Taylor, the White House political director and microtargeting guru who has been with George W. Bush from the outset of his first presidential campaign, is the latest staff member to leave the president's employ.

Taylor, 32, was one of the first people put on the payroll of the Bush campaign, trekking through snowy Washington to interview with Karl Rove and Bush, who was then governor of Texas. Taylor worked on the 2000 campaign, and later became a political aide in the White House.

In 2004, she worked on Bush's reelection campaign, where she helped refine the emerging political art of microtargeting. Working with Alex Gage of TargetPoint Consulting, Taylor was among those who helped use sophisticated analysis of consumer data to enable the Bush campaign to target potential voters even when they resided in Democratic-leaning voting districts.

The campaign developed lists of potentially sympathetic voters, based in part on computer analysis of people's spending habits. Those voters were then targeted for direct mail and other advertising. The data-mining techniques are credited with giving Republicans a decisive turnout advantage in the 2004 election; they are now commonly practiced by Democrats as well.

And now from Think Progress:

Justice Department Officials Confirm White House Instigated Plan To Bypass Senate On U.S. Attorney

Both Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his former chief of staff Kyle Sampson approved a plan to bypass the Senate and install Karl Rove-protege Tim Griffin as U.S. attorney in Arkansas.

But according to Karen Tumulty of Time, private testimony by Sampson reveals that the idea was “instigated” by the White House:

In private testimony that is being released this afternoon by the committee, Alberto Gonzales’s former Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson told investigators that Gonzales himself initially resisted the idea of bypassing the Senators from Arkansas to install Karl Rove protege Tim Griffin as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Pressure to do it, he suggested, was coming from officials at the White House–specifically, White House political director Sara Taylor, her deputy Scott Jennings and Chris Oprison, the associate White House counsel. Sampson described himself and Goodling as “open to the idea,” which is not the same as instigating it.

Taylor reports directly to Rove. In a Dec. 19, 2006 e-mail, Sampson said that getting Griffin “appointed was important to Harriet, Karl, etc.”

And on another matter:

Rice, RNC subpoenas approved.“By 21-10, the House oversight committee voted to issue a subpoena to Rice to compel her story on the Bush administration’s claim, now discredited, that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa.” The oversight committee “also issued subpoenas for the Republican National Committee for testimony and documents about White House e-mails on RNC accounts that have apparently gone missing.” In the Senate, the Judiciary Committee “approved - but did not issue - a subpoena on the prosecutors’ matter to Sara Taylor, deputy to presidential adviser Karl Rove.”

So I see another subpoena coming for Sara Taylor and there could be another 5th Amendment invocation, and possibly, just possibly another request for immunity.

Gonzales gives Extrodinary Powers to Aides

So here is where the political reasons come into play for the firings of the US Attorneys. He gave powers to Kyle Sampson and Monica Goodling. No wonder Monica took the 5th, and no wonderSampson resigned. Sampson never made mention of this at the Senate Judicial Committee hearing.

Murray Waas at the National Journal has the story:

Secret Order By Gonzales Delegated Extraordinary Powers To Aides

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales signed a highly confidential order in March 2006 delegating to two of his top aides -- who have since resigned because of their central roles in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys -- extraordinary authority over the hiring and firing of most non-civil-service employees of the Justice Department. A copy of the order and other Justice Department records related to the conception and implementation of the order were provided to National Journal.

In the order, Gonzales delegated to his then-chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, and his White House liaison "the authority, with the approval of the Attorney General, to take final action in matters pertaining to the appointment, employment, pay, separation, and general administration" of virtually all non-civil-service employees of the Justice Department, including all of the department's political appointees who do not require Senate confirmation. Monica Goodling became White House liaison in April 2006, the month after Gonzales signed the order.

The existence of the order suggests that a broad effort was under way by the White House to place politically and ideologically loyal appointees throughout the Justice Department, not just at the U.S.-attorney level. Department records show that the personnel authority was delegated to the two aides at about the same time they were working with the White House in planning the firings of a dozen U.S. attorneys, eight of whom were, in fact, later dismissed.

A senior executive branch official familiar with the delegation of authority said in an interview that -- as was the case with the firings of the U.S. attorneys and the selection of their replacements -- the two aides intended to work closely with White House political aides and the White House counsel's office in deciding which senior Justice Department officials to dismiss and whom to appoint to their posts. "It was an attempt to make the department more responsive to the political side of the White House and to do it in such a way that people would not know it was going on," the official said.

You have to read this whole article. Just a bit more...

Robert Litt, who served as a deputy assistant attorney general under former President Bill Clinton, said in an interview that during the Clinton presidency "it was routine that senior appointments in the department would be vetted by the White House. Appointees were often placed by the White House." Such a process is typical under most presidents, Litt said, because they "want to ensure that their administration's policies and priorities are carried out."

But Litt also called Gonzales's secret delegation of authority to Sampson and Goodling unprecedented. It was distressing, he said, that many of the most sensitive appointments at the highest levels of the Justice Department were to "be made by these two people with no law enforcement experience... that this extraordinary authority was being delegated to these two young puppies," and apparently without much input by more-experienced and less-partisan officials.

And a bit more....

Based on a review of the delegation order, the official said, the Criminal Division chief's principal deputy, his counselor, any of his special assistants, and a score of other aides were also among those who could be fired and replaced by Sampson and Goodling, and then subject to final approval by Gonzales.

"It would be an act of insanity and, frankly, implausible that the attorney general would grant authority to Kyle [Sampson] and Monica Goodling to make these decisions," the official said, "But it would be frightening if they were serving as proxies for the White House. You do not want to allow for the possible politicization of your Criminal Division like that."

Stay tuned for the continuing saga of the ousted US Attorneys!!!

UPDATE: From Think Progress...

In a new statement, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said the secret order “would seem to be evidence of an effort to hardwire control over law enforcement by White House political operatives,” and demanded that it be turned over to congressional investigators immediately:

This memorandum should have been turned over to Senate and House committees as part of requests made in ongoing investigations. I expect the Department of Justice to immediately provide Congress with full information about this troubling decision as well as any other related documents they have failed to turn over to date.

Read what Leahy said here.

Kyle Sampson back in front of Judiciary Committee

Although I really don't like linking to Fox News, they do have the story:

09:22 a.m. EDT Kyle
Sampson, former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, will return to Capitol Hill on Friday for a voluntary follow-up interview with House and Senate staffers investigating the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, a source with knowledge of the congressional investigation told FOX News on
Wednesday.

The source said Sampson, who testified late last month on the firings, is committed to cooperating fully with the congressional investigation and "despite his lengthy public testimony, has agreed to make himself available again to ensure that any outstanding questions are answered."

Maybe they will ask him more about the missing emails from the RNC email bank.

My own favorite moment from the Kyle Sampson Testimony

This is my favorite "gotcha" moment from yesterday, thank you very much Sen. Feinstein. Feinstein was questioning Sampson on the firing of Carol Lam, the San Diego US attorney. She was fired because she supposedly didn't do enough about the immigration cases.

Here's what happened:

Sampson claimed that the “real problem” with Carol Lam that Sampson referred to in an email “was her office’s prosecution of immigration cases.”

Feinstein told Sampson, “It is a real surprise to me that you would say here that the reason for her dismissal was immigration cases.” She then revealed a letter of commendation to Carol Lam dated Feb. 15, 2007, signed by the director of field operations of the United States Customs and Border Protection Agency.

Here's some of the excerpts from the letter that Sen. Feinstein read and the whole letter can be seen here:

In support of Border Patrol referrals for prosecution, your office maintains a 100 percent acceptance rate of criminal cases while staunchly refusing to reduce felony charges to misdemeanors and maintaining a minimal dismissal rate and supporting special prosecution efforts.

“I speak for my entire staff when I say that we are honored to have had the privilege of working with you and your staff for the past four years. … Again, thank you for your support; you will be missed.”


Oh, slam, Sen Feinstein!

Also at a hearing with FBI Director Robert Mueller this week, Feinstein said that Dzwilewski’s office had told her it had subsequently been contacted and “warned to say no more.” Under questioning today, Sampson acknowledged he had made a call to complain about Dzwilewski’s statement. But Sampson said he had merely “asked…why an FBI employee was commenting on that issue.”

OOOOps!

What you can find on blog comments....Gems!

First of all I have to give a hat tip to Bunky who posted this on the Sam Seder Show blog! A great list of the high points of what happened at the Senate Judiciary Committee's Kyle Sampson's testimony yesterday. Great work Bunky!

Yesterday was an 'oversight & popcorn' day for me. I was glued to C-SPAN from about 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It was fascinating to watch. I heard a guest say on C-SPAN that no one was expecting a smoking gun from Kyle Sampson's testimony. Apparently, Kyle Sampson's opening statement had been leaked.


1) Kyle Sampson said "I don't remember" 122 times.

2) Revealed the fact that he even brought up firing Fitzgerald and later withdrew.

3) He suggested using the Patriot Act loophole to circumvent Congress.

4) Implicated Gonzales, Miers, and Rove as decision makers.

5) Stated that Gonzales statements were not accurate.

6) Revealed sub standard record keeping. Little pieces of paper documenting which AG's should be fired.

7) Revealed his lack of experience as a lawyer.

8) His testimony revealed that congress will need more testimony.

9) Never clearly explained why the AG's were fired.

10) Never advised Carol Lam that they had issues with immigration.

11) Never revealed who put Iglesis name on the list.

Maybe there was no smoking gun, but I think the Dems got a lot more than
they were expecting.

Sampson's Testimony released to News Media today

I don't have it all yet but here are a few things Smapson said:

From the AP

Sampson, in remarks obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, spoke dismissively of Democrats' condemnation of what they call political pressure in the firings.

"The distinction between 'political' and 'performance-related' reasons for removing a United States attorney is, in my view, largely artificial," he said. "A U.S. attorney who is unsuccessful from a political perspective ... is unsuccessful."

He goes on to say:

In his prepared testimony, he maintained that adherence to the president's and attorney general's priorities was a legitimate standard. He strongly denied Democrats' allegations that some of the prosecutors were dismissed for pursuing Republicans too much and Democrats not enough in corruption cases.

"To my knowledge, nothing of the sort occurred here," he said.

In his written testimony to the Senate committee, Sampson also refers to the White House role in the firings, beginning with the quickly rejected idea of replacing all 93 U.S. attorneys after the 2004 election. He said he periodically provided to the White House over two years updated lists of U.S. attorneys whose dismissals were under consideration.

Sampson said in his testimony that any inconsistencies were innocent mistakes.

"This is a benign rather than sinister story," he said.

This is what Smapson is saying before being questioned. Let's see what tomorrow brings when he's in the hot seat in front of the Senate committee.

Kyle Sampson's Attorney speaks....

Kyle Sampson's attorney confirms he will testify on Thursday. This from TPM Muckraker:

Sampson: Nothing Can Stop Me Now
By Paul Kiel - March 26, 2007, 6:29 PM
Don't worry, Senate Judiciary Committee. Monica Goodling's choice to take the Fifth notwithstanding, Kyle Sampson will keep that date on Thursday. Just out from his lawyer, Bradford Berenson:

"Kyle plans to testify fully, truthfully, and publicly. Hearings in a highly politicized environment like this can sometimes become a game of gotcha, but Kyle has decided to trust the Congress and the process."